living for revenge
by thewayoflove
Summary: Callisto's just lost everything. Her family is dead and her village has been destroyed leaving her with nothing but her hatred for Xena and a lust for revenge. This story follows Callisto through her early days as a warlord; wandering through Greece training in the art of war and plotting her revenge.
1. prologue

Living for revenge

Callisto's just lost everything. Her family is dead and her village has been destroyed leaving her with nothing but her hatred for Xena and a lust for revenge. This story follows Callisto through her early days as a warlord; wandering through Greece training in the art of war and plotting her revenge.

Prologue

She stands alone in the ruins of Cirra. It's been two days since Xena's army swept through the village and burned it to the ground. She's most likely the only survivor. Quietly she walks through the empty streets. When she reaches her home, or what's left of it, she stops. At first she feels nothing, but quickly the tears start rolling down her cheeks. Her family was, and still is, the most important thing in her life. She loves them, they loved her and now they are dead. That's when it really hits her; her family is dead. She is alone and it's all because of her. That woman came into _her_ village, burnt _her_ family and destroyed _her_ life. She dries her eyes and makes a silent vow to never cry again.

That vow changed history forever. She is Callisto of Cirra, only fifteen winters old and already consumed with rage. She is Callisto of Cirra and she will make the destroyer of nations pay for what she did.


	2. Where to go from here ?

She's been on the road for about two days now. The two full days of travel are beginning to take their toll on her, but Callisto refuses to rest. She feels like the world is mocking her. It's the middle of july. It's warm, the sun is shining and there's not a cloud in the sky. There are fields full of the most beautiful,colourful flowers and trees filled with ripe fruit. She's even seen passed by a river which was filled with water so clear you could see the fish swimming around in it. Inside she feels like the winter. Inside her it's freezing and everything beautiful is dying. Filled with wilting flowers and rotten fruit, wandering through a world that's got nothing to offer her, she just keeps walking without a destination in mind.

It's at the end of the third day she finally decides to rest for a while. It will be only another half hour before it will be completely dark, but she doesn't hurry to set up camp. In fact she doesn't bother to set up camp at all. She lies down on the grass beneath a large tree and falls into a deep sleep. Surprisingly she doesn't dream about her family or Cirra or even the warrior princess herself. Just for the night she doesn't feel the pain or the anger that has been plaguing her for the past days.

For the first time in almost a week Callisto gets a full night of sleep, and when she wakes up she almost feels better. The sun is not unbearably bright and the sounds of nature aren't deafening. She almost feels calm, almost. That is until a lone, scrubby soldier enters her line of sight. He walks towards her until he's only 20 feet away. ''Well hello there young lady'' , he says menacingly, ''Isn't it just a beautiful morning ?''. Callisto stays silent, following him with her gaze as he walks even closer. ''I'd hate to have to hurt such beautiful girl like you, so how about you just give me all your coin and we call it a day ?'' He's just standing there with a dumb grin on his face. She recognises him now. He's one of the men who destroyed Cirra. The moment she realises this she's overcome with rage. She jumps him and before either of them realises it she's covered in his blood, pounding his face. She's screaming as loud as she can, punching him until he stops moving. When she knows he won't fight back anymore, she grabs his dagger and plunges it into his hearts while giving one last guttural yell.

Covered in blood, hungry for more violence, she finally knows where she'll go. After quickly washing of most of the blood of her face and hands in a nearby creek, she takes the soldiers sword and coins, laughing softly at the irony of the situation. A wicked smile still on her face she resumes her travels. '' Sparta here I come.''


	3. Her first battle

A.N. This story will not be completely historically correct.

Now with a destination in mind Callisto travels much faster than she did the days before. Of course had she had a map she'd probably be in Sparta already. Still, she's probably no more than half a day away. That said, she's got quite an interesting day ahead of her. Since leaving Cirra she's had more than enough time to think about getting revenge on the destroyer of nations. And tomorrow part one of her plan will start. If she ever wants to take her revenge on Xena she'll have to become stronger, smarter, learn how to use weapons and how to lead an army. And all of that she will learn, when she joins the Spartan army. That is however, if they let her join, considering the Spartan army normally does not allow women to join them. But for that Callisto has a plan too. For a while now rumours have been going around that the destroyer of nations is planning on attacking Sparta, and while the Spartan officers would never admit it, there's also been rumours that they fear this might be the first time the Spartans will be beaten in battle. Callisto being the only one to have survived the attack on Cirra will pretend it was some secret knowledge about Xena's tactics that allowed her to escape. And of course she'd be glad to share the information, if they let her join their army.

But for now she's sitting by her campfire, eating the bread she stole at the last village she passed trough. It would have been easier for her to just buy the bread, considering how awful a thief she is. Because even though she is perfectly able to slip some food in her bag and walk away without anyone noticing she'd taken anything, she just doesn't have the patience to wait for the right moment to strike. Luckily the baker she stole from was a wealthy man with a fat purse and an equally fat body, who didn't have the need or the capability to give chase. But however terrible a thief she is, she'd continue to steal for now, saving the coins she does have for more important things. The coins she has now are going to buy her her first sword, a sword that will be covered in the blood of all those who dare come between her and Xena, and eventually the blood of the warlord herself.

As the sun rises, so does Callisto. She's ready for the day ahead of her, and after a quick breakfast of leftover bread, she's on her way. After a few hours of walking Sparta is finally in sight. It's an enormous city, at least three times bigger than any village she's seen before. There is no city wall, just like she's heard, instead it seems like half the military is camped outside of the city. As she draws closer, she notices something is off though. A man in exquisite armour is shouting orders at a group of men surrounding him, at least two dozen horses are being saddled and another group of men are putting on their helmets and grabbing their weapons. A messenger rides in on a white horse, yelling ''Xena's coming, the destroyer is coming.'' For a moment the chaos gets to her and she's back in Cirra, the screams of the commanders become the pained yells of her friends and family, the armoured Spartans become Xena's warriors. She stops walking, stops breathing. Her mind begins to race; It's time, she's not ready, but it's time. She grabs one of the swords lying around and frantically starts looking for Xena, a wild look in her eyes. That's when the man in the exquisite armour notices her. '' What in tartarus, is that girl doing here?'' he yells, walking towards her ''Get her out of here'' he commands one of the men standing close to Callisto. As he walk towards her, she swings the sword at him but he easily avoids it and grabs her by the arms. ''Where should I take her, commander ?'' Before the commander can answer Callisto begins to yell. '' Get away from me, she's mine, I'm the one who will kill Xena.'' The commander and the soldier share a quick glance ''Bring her to my tent, I'll be there soon.'' The soldier drags Callisto to the tent, all the while she's screaming, trying to get away, trying to get to Xena. When they get to the tent, she tries to stab him again. This time he grabs the sword from her hands and slaps her hard across the face. The pain brings her back to the present and she remembers why she's really here. Not to fight Xena, yet, but to join the Spartans.

'' I need to speak to your commander''

''Well, you're in luck, that's his tent you're standing in'' the soldier says half grinning.

'' I want to join the Spartan army'' she replies sternly.

" You want to join us ?'' questions the commander, while stepping into the tent '' Last time I checked we don't allow little girls to join us.'' Outside a battle cry sounds and quickly after that the clangs of swords colliding and soldiers screams fill the air. The commander and the soldier speak at the same time '' She's here.'' They both run outside, but Callisto won't give up that quickly. She runs after them. There's soldiers fighting all around them. The battle's just begun but there are already corpses littering the ground. '' I lived through Cirra, I know her tactics'' Callisto screams. The commander looks at her before quickly dodging a spear '' You know what'' he yells at her, just before running off to join the fight '' live trough this battle and you're a soldier in this army''. The soldier runs after him, also keen to join the fight. There she is, alone in the middle of a huge battle between some the fiercest warriors of her time. She has no weapon, no experience and no one to protect her, but she is not afraid. She does not fear death or pain, because the girl she was already died and she is already in pain.

This is Callisto's first true battle. She's not the leader of a great army, she's not even part of an army nor has she ever held a sword before today. But she doesn't need an army because she is has the rage of ten armies and she doesn't need a sword because she is a weapon.


End file.
